Caffeine Is Definitely Good/Bad for You

The latest study about the effects of caffeine found that, during stressful situations, it impaired memory performance in men but actually improved memory performance in women.

Odd, right?

Those results prompted me to review the last few years of studies on caffeine to see if I could make sense of the research on the world’s most popular psychoactive substance. Here is what I have learned:

That said, the same study found that regular use of caffeine can lead to chronic headaches. And if you stop drinking coffee after being a regular drinker you’ll have withdrawal symptoms, which can include headaches.

However, postmenopausal women who drink five or more cups of coffee a day may be at increased risk of ovarian cancer. (Though the researchers speculate it may be a component of coffee other than caffeine that’s responsible.)

But it’s not so great for children and teenagers. In the excellently titled study “Mountain Dew or Mountain Don’t?” researchers found that caffeine use among fifth and tenth graders was related to increased levels of depression.